Anthony Edwards scored 21 points, Jaden McDaniels finished with 20 points, and the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves beat Denver 117-108 on Sunday to move a game ahead of the Nuggets in the Western Conference standings.
Minnesota swept its three-game road trip and salvaged the final matchup of the season against Denver. The Nuggets, who won the first three games, have lost four of their first six out of the All-Star break.
Bones Hyland had 18 points off the bench, Donte DiVincenzo contributed 17, Julius Randle had 14 points, reserve Naz Reid finished with 11 and Rudy Gobert grabbed 15 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who moved into fourth place.
Nikola Jokic had a near triple-double, finishing with 35 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists, Jamal Murray had 25 points, Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 17 off the bench and Christian Braun added 15 points for Denver.
Minnesota opened up a 12-point lead early in the fourth quarter and answered every charge. Bruce Brown’s putback cut it to 96-89 but Reid hit a 3-pointer and a layup to make it 104-92 with 7:50 left.
Murray had a driving dunk out of timeout and hit a floater in the lane over Hyland to give the Nuggets some life. A turnover gave them a chance to cut deeper into the lead but a bad pass led to a Gobert dunk and Edwards hit a contested 3-pointer to make it 109-96 with 5:52 left, and the Timberwolves closed it out.
Minnesota trailed by 11 in the first quarter but scored 12 straight points in the second to take a 45-38 lead. The Nuggets tied it on Julian Strawther’s layup with 2:29 left in the period but the Timberwolves closed the half on a 12-4 run to lead 58-50 at intermission.
Minnesota opened the third on an 8-2 run to lead by 14 but Denver rallied to cut it to 70-65. A trio of 3-pointers by DiVincenzo in a span of 93 seconds pushed the advantage back to 14 midway through the third.
The Nuggets again cut it to five with a 13-4 run but the Timberwolves took a 90-82 lead into the final 12 minutes.
